Contact Us
Warrington VIP is a British charity
Registration No. 1169900
Contact No. 01925 632700
Email: info@warringtonvip.co.uk
Find Us
Warrington VIP
Fairfield Street
Warrington, WA1 3AJ
Fairfield Street
Warrington, WA1 3AJ
We offer a range of services for blind and partially sighted people to help them come to terms with sight loss and to live independently including:
Advice on benefits, care, visual aids and transport
Tuesday & Thursday member lunch club
Home visiting support service for support in your home
Home visiting support service for support in your home
Social and recreational activities, including holidays and day trips
Dominoes Club held every other Saturday at our centre
Warrington (VIP) offer our VIP members a lunch club twice a week, this is an opportunity to meet other people with sight loss and enjoy a three course lunch & activities. VIP’s are collected by one of our minibuses, driven to our centre and in the afternoon taken home again with the support of VIP volunteer drivers and escorts. We celebrate VIP’s birthdays with cake, and a cheeky glass of fizz or whiskey! Activities and entertainment includes quizzes, bingo, dominoes, singers and pony therapy.
We have home visitors who visit our members in their homes, helping with everyday tasks from reading mail, understanding benefits, to helping our members who otherwise may be isolated at home.
Getting away for a day or short break holiday is something our members really enjoy. Here at Warrington (VIP) we cater for day trips and holidays tailored especially for those with sight problems. These breaks are covered by staff and volunteers who are readily available to assist each VIP to ensure their trip or holiday is as relaxed as staying at home. Our aim is to take you away two to three times a year, with our Turkey and Tinsel breaks at the end of the year being particularly popular.
Fortnightly on a Saturday VIP’s meet at our centre to enjoy a game of dominoes with quite a few trophies having been won over the years in local competitions.
Warrington VIP was founded under the name “The Warrington and District Society for the Blind” with the object of the Society being to promote the welfare of blind people residing in the area.
It all started 1917, when 23 year old Rex Furness was working in a laboratory in Crossfields. Rex was involved in a top secret development for the military when an explosion blew up in his face leaving him blind. Whilst learning to cope with life without sight, he thought of all the other people in the area living with the same problem as he had.
He decided to make their welfare his chief concern. On January 23rd 1923, The Warrington, Widnes and District Society for the Blind was founded. A building was acquired in Museum Street which provided offices, a library and workshops, where members could make baskets, stockings and woven cane chairs. Payments from sales of goods were passed on to members who were considered unemployable, providing them with an income allowing them to contribute and feel valued.
Rex passed away in 1971, aged 77, but his legacy lives on in Warrington Visually Impaired People.
Warrington VIP now resides at the Old Fairfield School after moving to the purpose built centre in 2012.
Warrington VIP is a British charity
Registration No. 1169900
Contact No. 01925 632700
Email: info@warringtonvip.co.uk
